Year 7 parents evening. Should I see geography teacher when ds doesn't do geography?

[elliejjtiny]

I can book parents evening from Monday. It's the one where all the teachers sit at desks in the sports hall and you get 5 minutes with each one. Starts off civilised and then descends into chaos. Anyway we've been given a list of teachers to book with including geography but ds doesn't do geography. He does cooking instead while the rest of the class do geography. So should I book to see the geography teacher (who is also his form tutor) to find out if there is anything I should be doing at home with him to make up for the fact that he will have missed a year of geography or not.

If he’s missed a year of geography, then you will need more than just a 5min catch up.

i Wrote a long post but deleted it as all I really want to know is - why?!

This will surely depend on why your DS does cooking whilst the rest of the class does geography.

Surely the meeting is with the form teacher ( who just also happens to be the geography teacher) so yes you do need to make an appointment

If the geography teacher is his form tutor, surely you will need to see them to ask about how your DS is settling in etc?

A lot of this will depend on why he hasn’t done geography for a year. What is the reason?

Why is he doing cookery instead of geography?

Why doesn’t he do geogrpahy
bur if the same teacher is form tutor I’d make an appointment with him/her

at our school there is def not an expectation to see all the teachers offered. We are as many as reasonable but never all. Some parents just see 3-4

Wouldn't it be normal to see his form tutor?

No, leave it for pupils who do actually do geography.

His tutor is his pastoral care lead so it should be how he is settling in.

Although schools do make mistakes

It's not usual to see the form tutor at this parents evening. They have a "meeting the tutor evening " in late September.

He has autism and he and another autistic child in his tutor group do cooking while the rest of the class do geography. There are about 50% of the class have SN but ds and the other child who does cooking have the most severe needs.

I suppose it depends whether you feel you would like to catch up with the form tutor. If you haven’t seen her since settling in in September, it might be useful, nearly six months later.

But the form teacher isn't there as a form teacher, they are there as a geography teacher to talk about geography with their geography classes. It's not far to deny a kid who does geography an appointment (and the teacher probably teaches more kids than appointments) just because you want a catch up with the form tutor.

No one else will be getting a catch up with their form tutor.

She is technically his geography teacher, it says so on his timetable and on his school report. It just says N/A for achievement, effort and homework on his report under the geography teacher's name. Will he be missing out on something vital if he misses all of year 7 geography as long as he isn't planning on doing geography for gcse? He should probably do food tech though, seeing as he is getting double the cooking lessons that everyone else gets.

I would definitely want to speak to the form tutor even if under the guise of Geography teacher.

You’d be better off emailing that as a question where she could think about it and send links or whatever rather than putting her on the spot in the middle of a hectic evening talking to kids who do actually do geography.

Is it likely you’ll be doing any catch-up work with him at home if you haven’t so far?

You should book to see them as his form tutor rather than as geography teacher. You can ask about missing lessons & also how he has settled in generally.

Why has Geography been chosen as the subject he doesn't do?

Bizarre they’ve allowed a year 7 child to drop a basic core subject at this age.
Regardless, surely his form tutor is someone you would definitely need to see, particularly given your son has a unique set up?

We never get the opportunity to see the form tutor so I'd see it as a bonus appointment to see how he's doing in that setting. You may find it gets cancelled if the teacher feels it has to be to discuss geography.

Of course you shouldn't see a teacher for a subject he isn't even doing. They will have a template report format that includes geography and as you said yourself, it has been marked as not applicable for your DS.

Don't take the parents evening slot away from someone else whose child actually does geography!

Do you also have SEN OP? I wonder why you are struggling to understand this situation?

No don't. And don't worry about 'catching up' geography either.

Were you onboard with him missing a core subject from the start of secondary school? What is it about geography he can't manage? Is the plan for him to join the class eventually or just never study geography?

Anyway no don't make an appointment with a teacher whose class he doesn't take.

Fgs it’s to talk to his form tutor. Clearly no other reason